Manslaughter In Stabbing Of Bouncer In Nightclub

By SABRINA TAVERNISE

Published: November 17, 2004

A computer administrator from Queens was convicted yesterday of first-degree manslaughter for fatally stabbing a nightclub bouncer last year during an argument that began over a lighted cigarette, a case that focused attention on the city's broad new smoking ban.

Lawyers for the Queens man, Isaias Umali, 32, said their client stabbed the 6-foot-6 bouncer, Dana Blake, to defend a friend, Jonathan Chan, who was being choked by Mr. Blake after the two argued in an East Village club, Guernica, in April 2003, shortly after the ban took effect. Mr. Chan, who is 5-foot-10, and his friends had exchanged words with Mr. Blake, 32, after he told them to put out a burning cigarette.

During the trial in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, prosecutors contended that Mr. Blake was simply trying to push Mr. Chan out of the club after he refused to leave. They said Mr. Umali, who was versed in martial arts, stabbed Mr. Blake in the upper thigh with a special motion meant to do maximum harm.

''Grabbing someone by the throat and pushing them out toward the exit is not the type of force that justifies you taking a six-inch knife and stabbing it into someone's body,'' said an assistant district attorney, Christina Chuliver.

Mr. Umali was initially charged with murder, but jurors yesterday found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, said his lawyer, Michael Shapiro.

One juror, a television engineer, said jurors believed that Mr. Umali had meant to hurt but not kill Mr. Blake, which is why they agreed on manslaughter. They did not believe that Mr. Chan had been in danger of dying, the juror said.

Mr. Umali, distraught over the killing, later tried to commit suicide, his lawyers said. He did not mean to kill Mr. Blake, Mr. Shapiro said. ''His intent was to cause enough pain to make Blake let go,'' he said.

Mr. Shapiro also contended that the judge, Bonnie G. Wittner, did not give the defense the opportunity to fully state its case when she refused to allow defense lawyers to call some expert witnesses. Sentencing is set for December.

Mr. Umali's father, also named Isaias Umali, said the family planned to appeal the verdict. Mr. Umali said he tried to reassure his son: ''I told him, 'You are still young.'''